JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ LLORENTE: BIOGRAPHY - HISTORY - 2025

José González Llorente (1770 - c. 1854) was a Spanish merchant who was the protagonist of one of the most transcendent episodes in the history of Colombian Independence, known as “El florero de Llorente”.

On July 20, 1810, an incident occurred that might seem small under other circumstances; However, it was the impulse to the flame that erased the link between Spain and Colombia, then called Nueva Granada.

Fight of Santamaría with Llorente. Peter Angritt, from Wikimedia Commons

Luis de Rubio, Creole, (other sources assure that it was Lorenzo Marroquín) went to the presence of José González Llorente to borrow a vase in order to decorate the place where they would receive the Quito official Antonio Villavicencio. It is believed that everything had been planned in advance by the Colombian Creole class.

After the refusal of the first, the Creoles made a great stir over the matter and ended up achieving their objectives, which were to create a governing board in Santa Fe and appoint its members.

From then on José González Llorente, once one of the city's most prosperous merchants, fell from grace and spent his last years in Cuba, where he finally died.

Still in Colombia objects that belonged to González Llorente are preserved as symbols of the beginning of the liberation from Spanish rule.

Biography

First data

José González Llorente was born in Cádiz, Spain, around 1770. However, the information about his parents and many others about his life in the Iberian Peninsula are unknown.

González settled in Cartagena de Indias in 1784. There he dedicated himself to commerce, which he practiced by exchanging goods between the old continent and the new world.

This is how the peninsular got the capital that allowed it to climb positions in the American land quickly.

Santa Fe

The exact date on which José González Llorente decided to establish his domicile in the capital of the viceroyalty is not known, but it is estimated that it could have been in 1797.

He continued his career as a merchant with his business located on Calle Real. Among its branches was the sale of texts and magazines that came from abroad, as well as other luxury items that came from overseas.

His fame quickly spread in Santa Fe for having in his inventory exclusive objects that were not in the rest of the stores in the city. In 1806 he married María Dolores Ponce and Lombana, a Spanish Creole, together they had seven children.

Personality

José González Llorente collaborated with the community. He was involved in social service, since he always lent his hand to the less favored and was even at the head of the city's hospices in 1810. In this way, he adhered to his Catholic principles, which he tried to always rule their actions.

According to the Colombian historian Carmen Ortega Ricaute, González Llorente also collaborated with the support of his wife's entire family, which included at least 12 people and also financially supported his younger brother.

He was loyal to the crown and, despite that, maintained good relations with the Creoles. Although he tried to mark distance with the followers of the Enlightenment. Even so, his treatment was so cordial that he helped them translate the texts that arrived from France and the United States into Spanish.

Last years

He was imprisoned twice, first from 1810 to 1811 and then once more in 1814. He had to offer his property in exchange for his life to leave the city of Santa Fe.

So José González Llorente went into exile. The Spaniard had fallen into financial disgrace and was harassed by Colombian supporters of the libertarian cause.

It was known that he was for a time in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, and there he wrote about his life and the hunt of which he had been a victim during his last years in Colombia.

Death

Without many more details about it, it is known that José González Llorente died around 1854 in Camagüey, Cuba.

Llorente's vase

Background

Although the idea that the incident with the vase was a spontaneous situation was popularized in the collective imagination for many years, this has recently been denied by researchers.

On July 19, 1810, there was a meeting at the Astronomical Observatory. There, the most important Creoles of the city met and planned the development of the events, when they learned about the character of González Llorente.

The creoles requested the creation of a Governing Board in the city of Santa Fe, but their wishes fell on deaf ears when they arrived before Viceroy Antonio José Amar y Borbón.

Episode

It all started when one of the Creoles, the sources differ when assuring whether it was Luis de Rubio or Lorenzo Marroquín, went to González Llorente's store to borrow an expensive vase to decorate the reception organized by the Quito official Antonio Villavicencio.

Then, González Llorente reacted offended because they asked to borrow the object instead of paying for it, because it was men and not women who were decorating the room and, finally, because the whole thing was to entertain another Creole.

He replied rudely and offended all Americans in his reply. That was used as an excuse to start a popular uprising right in the center of the city. Among others, Francisco de Morales Fernández and José María Carbonell were involved in the incident.

After the uproar that was created in Santa Fe, the objective of the Creoles was achieved, the long-awaited Government Junta was established. However, they were not totally happy to learn that as president of the organization he imposed himself on the viceroy of the city.

Museum

The former José González Llorente store became the Museum of Independence, which is known by the name of Casa del Florero and is located in Bogotá. There are deposited numerous articles of the time.

Two objects have a special role; Llorente's vase and the supposed padlock that would have belonged to the Spanish merchant to secure his business.

This museum was founded on July 20, 1960. Before that, both the padlock and the vase were located in the National Museum of Colombia.

References

1. Martínez, O. (2008). Florero de Llorente will tell its story. Time. Available at: eltiempo.com.
2. Acero Torres, N. (2013). Bicentennial of the Independence of Colombia. Suite101. Available at: web.archive.org.
3. Museum of Independence. (2019). The House of the Vase. Available at: museoindependencia.gov.co.
4. Caipa Rozo, E. (2010). Reflection of history. Aeronautical Magazine. Available at: revistaaeronautica.mil.co.
5. Gómez Latorre, A. (1993). JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ LLORENTE, EL CHAPETÓN. Time. Available at: eltiempo.com.
6. Llano Isaza, R. (2017). The Cultural Network of the Bank of the Republic. Banrepcultural.org. Available at: banrepcultural.org.